Men's basketball: Chippy Cy-Hawk game ends without handshakes

Thursday

IOWA CITY — Throughout Thursday's rivalry game between Iowa State and Iowa, when one team made a push, the other team responded with one of their own.

The first literal example came with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first half, when Iowa pushed and ISU pushed back.

Or, shoved, rather.

The two teams scuffled after a charge call with Iowa leading by 10 in the first half. Three technicals were assessed — all to Iowa natives — but no ejections were made.

Then, after the game's final buzzer signified Iowa's 98-84 win, things once again got contentious between the two teams, particularly Iowa's Connor McCaffrey and ISU's Marial Shayok and Michael Jacobson.

The heated situation took place right in front of ISU's bench, and ISU coach Steve Prohm said he and Iowa star Tyler Cook tried to prevent things from escalating.

“Tyler Cook and I, we made eye contact and we were both getting everybody settled and then one of the (Iowa) assistants came over and just told me, 'Man, get your hands off my guy,' and if anybody knows me, I'm probably one of the most — I don't know, I'm not even gonna go there, but that was it,” Prohm said.

“I'm trying to do the right thing here, why would you even say that? Let's just get these kids separated, Tyler's right there, he was helping me.”

Afterwards, the Hawkeyes exited the court before shaking hands with the Cyclones.

“It was the smart thing to do,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said afterwards.

Prohm was clearly irritated with that decision.

“We were ready to shake hands. I stopped the coaches, I stopped (Iowa assistant Kirk) Speraw, I stopped the other assistants, shook hands,” Prohm said.

“Yeah, we shook hands, we shook hands with who was there.”

Despite his dissatisfaction with the lack of handshakes, Prohm apologized for the entire situation.

“I was trying to make sure everything was status quo. I didn't represent the school the right way. I apologize,” he said.

In the first half of the rivalry game, the game showed its first hint of aggression.

ISU trailed by 10 when Talen Horton-Tucker penetrated into the middle, only to be called for a charge, taken by Iowa's Cordell Pemsl, a Dubuque native.

On the way down the court, Iowa's Connor McCaffery, an Iowa City native and the Iowa coach's son, and ISU's Jacobson, a Waukee native, jawed a bit. Suddenly, Pemsl shoved Jacobson, who responded with a shove of his own.

“I didn't see anything at first and then I look up and Mike and one of the guys are nose to nose, so obviously, somebody's gotta run out there and break the thing up,” Prohm said. “So I ran out there and got them separated and then all of a sudden Pemsl comes out of nowhere.”

Both Prohm and McCaffery sprinted onto the court to interrupt before the situation could worsen.

Connor McCaffery, Pemsl and Jacobson were all called for technical fouls.

“Everything was done, it was over and done with, and so that was frustrating,” Prohm said of Premsl's shove.

“But it's all heat of the moment. “Fran's got great kids, we got great kids, it's a rivalry game, things got testy.”

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